The Ceraviehlians have grown weak and complacent. They do not know what it means to suffer, they do not know what it means to scrounge for every scrap of food. We will lure them out of their high walls and fancy castles to show them the fault of their ways. Come spring, we will conquer the rest of the promised lands.

A speech from Ilugei to the chiefs of the tribes after conquering Kashna, last city of the eastern highlands.

Silas turned around. Two yellow slits looked down at him, filled with malice. Head-sized rocks fell off a massive body as the creature shook itself.

“It’s been a while since the last intruders dared come to this place,” the Sphinx yawned, revealing rows of almost see-through teeth, their glass-like material reflecting the light coming from the top of the ceiling.

Silas instinctively took a step back, glancing over his shoulder to confirm the door was still closed. They needed to get out of here. He took a deep breath, trying to get the shaking under control. “I apologize for disturbing you. We stumbled upon this place because we got chased by other Artists and fell into a tunnel. The only thing we want is to leave this place.”

The sphinx regarded him for a moment. Silas forced himself to keep the eye contact as the massive creature laid its head down until it was mere feet away from him. “I am afraid that won’t be possible, little human.” Even spoken low, the words echoed through the whole chamber. “Not after what you have taken,” it spat out, its yellow eyes flickering towards Zaya’s pockets.

Zaya took a step forward, her head bowed. “We not mean to steal, great Sphinx.” She took the Merger out and laid it down. “My people have much respect for bonded companion of Aqueel. Many years ago,”

“How dare you speak his name?” the Sphinx roared, its eyes glinting with fury.

“We meant of offense, mighty creature,” Nurana hastily added to try and calm the sphinx. “It was not our intention to disrespect the great Inventor’s heritage.”

“There is no way out of this city.” The sphinx’s words thundered across the chamber, crashing their hopes. “And even if there were, I wouldn’t let you go. The risk of her to find out about the Merger is too great,” the Sphinx said, its spite apparent. “I’m afraid the only thing I can offer you is a quick death. The Taint must have already affected you, you wouldn’t have survived for longer than a few weeks either way.”

Gnarly walked up to the Sphinx, almost reaching up to its massive eyes. “Creak!” Gnarly exclaimed, pointing up at the metal tube sitting beside the Sphinx.

The massive creature let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, little one. I swore an oath to protect his legacy. And although time is ever so slowly catching up on me, I cannot see it discovered by anyone else than Aqueel’s descendants. He built this place for his people, and this is my last service to his memory. What’s left of it at least,” the sphinx added.

For the first time, Silas felt true anger radiating from Gnarly. Vines twisted and bulged as Gnarly prepared himself. With a creature twice as big as a Chimera and as old as the city itself, they wouldn’t be able to win this fight. They needed a miracle, and Silas didn’t believe in those. It hadn’t saved his parents, either.

“Creak,” Gnarly walked back to stand beside Silas, his amber eyes resolute. Silas nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat as he slung his bow from his shoulder.

Zaya squared her feet. “I have great respect for you, great Sphinx, but no Adjhin’tor, even a Hanguhn such as myself, will go down with their head bowed.”

“I know,” the Sphinx sighed, the pebbles that lay scattered over the ancient stones blown away by the gust of wind coming from its nostrils. “And I respect that.” The creature stood up, towering over them once more. “You may begin.”

Silas’s stood beside Zaya, giving her a quick nod. This would be their last stand, and they both knew it. But even if they didn’t stand a chance, all they could do was try. His eyes scanned over the massive beast as he nocked an arrow. It was his second last one. Better make them count. The beast had to have some kind of weakness. Maybe he could land a powerful shot in its neck or eyes. His spear might not be able to pierce its hide, and neither did he want to come too close to the beast.

His arms began to tingle with energy as he directed the mist from his Inner Landscape into the bow. Vile, purple wisps crawled through his body, the Taint making it difficult to concentrate. Muscles started to twitch in anticipation of the upcoming fight, begging him to just let loose.

Grip firm around the wood, his first hunt with Tom came to his mind. How scared he’d been when the Derots had rushed at him, only to find out that the old man had disappeared. How he’d fallen into despair as the Derot lunged onto him, its snout biting into his arm. The pain that followed, fear dominating his every thought. How weak he’d felt. Powerless. Afraid. His Inner Landscape roiled with power, the foreign energy twitching at his rising anger.

Silas thought back on when he was stalking through the woods, hearing the all-too familiar screams of someone pleading for help. He’d tried to rectify his inaction and his helplessness by killing another family. Using his parents’ death to justify more killing. How foolish he’d been.

Disgust rose in his chest. He still remembered the feeling of the bow in his hands. His arrow honing onto the Invoker. The pain in his knuckles as he smashed his fist into the Invoker’s shield and shattered it. The despair in the man’s eyes as Silas stood over him, blood dripping from the tip of his spear. His pleas for mercy. The wet gurgle as the he died. And finally, the numbness as he realized what he’d done, wiping the dark blood from the Invoker’s emblem, revealing the silver falcon beneath, marking Silas a traitor to his own people.

In what seemed like another lifetime, Silas remembered the story of Elusco his father had told him the night before the barbarians attacked. How his hate had consumed Elusco, and how he was eventually hunted by his own kind for killing members of the Guild. “Must have been a lonely life, with nothing but his hate keeping him company,” his mother’s soft voice came from the back of his mind, so distant, yet so clear. A few moons later, Silas had told Tom that he didn’t want to end up like Elusco.

Alone, and forgotten.

Maybe he wasn’t so different, after all. He already had blood on his hands, a murderer and traitor of his people. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but feel that the evil he had committed had been justified. Righteous. He wasn’t like Elusco. He wouldn’t let something like the Taint control his actions and potentially hurt those he cared about. Tom had taught him better than that. When he looked at Gnarly, Zaya, and Nurana standing by his side, he knew he had made the right choice. At least he wouldn’t go down alone.

“Ready, little boy?” Zaya shook him out of his thoughts.

Silas let out a little chuckle. “Ready when you are.”

A boulder launched itself toward the head of the Sphinx. Huffing in contempt, the beast lazily dodged the attack, the boulder passing just by his head. But Zaya wasn’t done. Her arms flailed to the side as the boulder exploded, sending hundreds of shards flying. The Sphinx roared in pain as its skin was pelted with rocks, its sharp tips piercing the beast’s hide. Silas invited Gnarly to connect to the arrow, the bow now fully drawn, the wood quivering with the pent-up energy.

Silas let go of the string, his shoulder screaming in protest. The arrow twirled in mid-air, quickly growing to the size of a massive javelin as it headed straight towards the beast’s neck. A slight movement of its shoulder caused the javelin to miss, the projectile instead burying itself deep into its upper chest. The beast stumbled backwards.

“I haven’t had a good fight in centuries,” the Sphinx smiled. “My turn.”

Ripping the javelin out with a tug of its head, the Sphinx opened its mouth and let out a roar that made Silas’s ears pop. Huge, yellow slits gazed down on him. His legs went weak. This was not an enemy he was facing—it was death incarnate. Foreign energy pressed down on him, paralyzing his body. Feet rooted to the ground, he willed his legs to move—in vain. The Sphinx raised one paw to crush him. Its claws, each one as long as his spear, descended.

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“Creak!” A sudden wave of energy blasted through him and shook him out of his stupor.

With the pressure released, his legs moved of their own accord as he jumped to the side, using his momentum to roll over the stone floor. The ground shook as the paw crashed down, rattling his teeth. Pushing energy into his legs, Silas darted forward, right between the beast’s legs.

The skin of the underbelly looked softer, maybe soft enough to pierce with his spear. He let his small shield float in front of him as he prepared himself. A mighty jump catapulted him into the air. The creature’s belly was too high for him to reach while standing on the ground, so he would need to get creative.

A heartbeat passed as Silas stood in the air, the shield directly under his feet. Infusing it with energy, he willed the shield upwards, using it as a stepping stone to push him even higher, his knees buckled under the sudden pressure. Mind connected to his spear, he let his energy soar. Again and again, his spear struck into the creature’s hide, leaving multiple small, but deep wounds. Thick red blood dripped onto the stone near him as he landed in a roll, dashing away from the Sphinx’s underbelly.

The Sphinx’s tail twitched. All air left Silas’s lungs as he was thrown across the stone like a ragdoll, his spear clattering to the ground. He took a few pained breaths as he tried to get up again. He faintly noticed Nurana’s hand on his back. Silas ground his teeth as he felt his skin knitting itself back together.

“Not bad for a young human such as yourself.” The Sphinx smiled condescendingly. “If it were another time, I might have considered to take you in as a—”

An explosion rocked the chamber. “Less talking, more fighting!” Zaya screamed over the noise. Whirling her arms, two massive spikes of stone erupted from the ground and pierced the Sphinx’s belly, sending deep rivulets of blood down the rock. Zaya immediately followed by throwing two of her explosives towards the Sphinx’s face and infusing them with energy. The creature’s face, previously a light-brown, was now pelted with red spots where the shards of Zaya’s makeshift explosives had hit the Sphinx.

The beast’s eyes flashed with anger. “Those...were not yours to take!” it hissed, its paw moving so fast Zaya wasn’t even able to react. The massive paw swatted her like a fly as Zaya’s back hit the wall and crumbled to the ground. Gnarly’s vines covered her motionless body and dragged her to Nurana who immediately began healing her.

Silas coughed as he got back up, ignoring the taste of blood on his lips. They needed to end this, fast. The Sphinx was just too powerful. While they might have done some damage, a few shallow wounds were nothing to such a creature. The fight had barely begun, and they were almost done for. He glanced towards Nurana. Her skin had changed to a sickly pale, her hands shaking as she tried to wake up Zaya.

“You thieves are all the same. You take and you steal, all to make more weapons. More destruction. More war. You’re not any better. You’re just like her,” the Spinx spat out.

“Better than who?” Silas forced out. Every moment it didn’t attack them bought them time to recuperate. He had a plan, he just needed a bit to flesh it out.

The Sphinx’s yellow slits shone with hate as it bore down on Silas. “The Matriarch. Haven’t you seen the fissures in the wall outside of the academy? Only she would be could leave something like this. A reminder of her power, and my shame.”

The Matriarch. Silas remembered the mural in the cave from the Kila’tor’s elder how small he’d felt when he noticed the red slits gazing back at him. A being only mentioned in stories, the Matriarch was a creature of unimaginable power, supposedly able to make mountains crumble with a mere thought. If the marks outside really came from this creature, Silas hoped to never meet her.

“Why did the Matriarch even attack Al-Talash?”

Silas turned his head to whisper his plan to Nurana and Zaya, who had just woken up again. Nurana cast a wary glance at him. “That’s a horrible plan,” she panted, hands on her knees after she finished healing Zaya.

“The Matriarch laid waste to this city because of Aqueel’s genius. She killed him for the same object you intended to steal,” the Sphinx said, eyes flickering towards the Merger. “But don’t worry. You won’t need to fear her wrath. This will be your tomb.”

“I distract Sphinx,” Zaya let her head hang low as she spoke under her breath. “You go for tummy. Gnarly can protect you.”

“Creak!”

“Are you done with your little scheming?” The Sphinx rumbled, apathetic. “Can we continue, or do you need more time?”

Silas ground his teeth. The Sphinx didn’t even take them seriously. But that would now change. Zaya passed him her remaining two explosives behind her back.

“Alone for much time, huh? Want talk about feelings, maybe?” Zaya shouted up at the massive Sphinx.

“You puny little worm.” Its eyes fixated on Zaya, who looked the creature straight in the eye, both hands balled into fists as half a dozen rocks collected around her. “I will teach you to respect your el—”

Zaya let one of the rocks shoot at the face of the Sphinx. “No thanks!”

The rock pulverized into nothing a few feet before hitting the Sphinx. “My knowledge over the Art of stone is much greater than yours, little Hanguhn. You would do well to heed my advice. Now witness.”

The whole chamber began to shake violently as stones loosened themselves from the walls, rocks the size of boulders floating before the Sphinx. The stone shifted, transforming itself into dozens of spears and stones, each one pointing at Zaya. For a heartbeat, nothing moved.

Chaos followed. Silas rushed towards the Sphinx, the last of Zaya’s bombs in his pocket. It was either now, or never.

Stone whisked through the air as Zaya blocked the first few projectiles with stones of her own. A slight tremor beneath Zaya shook the ground. The floor erupted as jagged spikes shot at her. Covering her legs with a layer of stone, she weaved through them, destroying those she couldn’t dodge. Loud crashes of stone against stone echoed through the chamber as chips flew everywhere. Brown dust hung in the air, covering her sweaty skin. Her eyes glanced to her left. Silas was almost upon the Sphinx. Only a little longer. The Sphinx huffed, and Zaya felt the control over the stones around her slipping away. The Sphinx’s willpower clashed against hers, overwhelming it. Through her Artsight, she perceived dozens of spears circling her. Zaya smiled as she locked eyes with the Sphinx. Shaping the remaining stones into slabs, she let them cover her back. The beast’s yellow slits flashed with energy, multiple spears coming at her from all directions.

Zaya began to dance.

Feet gliding over the stone, she dodged the first spear with a slight bend of her shoulder, ducking under another by letting her body tilt backwards. Two stone knives were blocked by her shield, a cloud of dust puffing out as they were reduced to smithereens.

She emerged from the cloud of dust in a crouched dash, her thick braid trailing behind her. Another tremor shook the ground, and Zaya used her front leg to jump over the spikes that shot out of the floor. She somersaulted through the air, eyes glimpsing at least four more attacks coming at her. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as she realized her mistake. Airborne, she had no way to dodge. In a last attempt, she moved the remaining shield over her feet, willing it to stay firm as she kicked against it to push herself out of the trajectory of the incoming attacks.

But she wasn’t fast enough. Pain seared through her body as sharp edges cut through her clothes. She landed in a tumble, the all-too-familiar feeling of warm blood flowing over her skin. A shard of stone the size of her fist was stuck in her right leg, the muscles screaming in protest as she tried to stand up again. To her left, Silas ran between the legs of the Sphinx, one hand reaching into his pocket. Zaya ignored the pain racking her body. One hand went towards her shoulder to stop the bleeding. “Good fight,” she huffed, her vision swimming before her eyes.

“Still standing, not bad,” the Sphinx chuckled. “Unfortunately for you, this is—”

Silas jumped, a bomb held in each hand. Gnarly’s vines covered his whole body to protect him from the incoming explosion. The Sphinx tensed up, its tail whipping at him so fast he barely even saw it. He was almost there. Just a few feet more, and he’d be able to push the bomb into the creature’s wounds.

Too late.

Silas saw the tail from the edge of his vision and braced himself for the impact.

“Creak!” Vines grabbed the bomb out of Silas’s hand, lodging it firmly under the fur of the Sphinx. Silas’ eyes lit up. They had done it, they had—

The Sphinx’s tail hit him with the force of a boulder, its stinger biting into his chest. The remaining bomb fell out of his hands. Bones cracked as he flew through the air, his arms wrapped around his head. Pain shot through his body as he tumbled over the rough stone. Consciousness slipped away from him. Darkness swam before his eyes. His breath came in ragged gasps, his lungs struggling to fuel his body with air.

Two explosions rocked the chamber, followed by a roar so loud it drowned out the sound of his heartbeat. Silas coughed blood, his hand slipping on the wet stone. Not good. From far away, his master’s droning voice spoke to him. “Blood coming from any orifice is bad. Wounds you can’t heal, are bad. If you are about to get hurt, let it be on your shoulder or extremities. Healing organs is incredibly difficult.” Suddenly, soothing warmth trickled into him, his breathing becoming regular again.

“Can’t do much more,” Nurana panted.

He acknowledged her with a nod, not trusting his lungs to speak. A pool of blood began to form under the Sphinx. Its eyes were wide with rage, its voice more of a growl than anything else.

“You dare try to kill me with his creations? They are not yours to take!” it roared, a shockwave of energy blasting through the chamber. Behind the Sphinx, metal rattled. Limbs pulled themselves together, torsos began to mend as more and more automata took form. Most were human-sized, but there were also two goliaths wielding long halberds of gleaming steel. The Sphinx lay down and let its minions take the front.

Silas leaned on his spear after joining Zaya and Nurana, both of them looking as bad as he felt. Even getting away from one of the goliaths had been difficult, and now they were facing two and half a dozen regular-sized automata.

“I hate metal creatures,” Zaya cursed as she pulled the spike of stone out of her leg, quickly tying a loose band of cloth around it to prevent any more blood from flowing out.

“Anyone got a plan?” Nurana asked from behind them.

Gnarly took a step forward. “Creak.”